portrait in GH -Nature of Movement

[p0tterfan]

No: HPFGUIDX 97629

Neri:
> 
> Many portraits are hung in public places, such as St. Mungo's and 
the 
> MoM. I can't believe Fudge, for example, would have tolerated this 
> had he known that they report to DD. No matter how rare are hand-
> painted portraits, if any wizard who has more than one portrait can 
> travel between his portraits the secret would be out very quickly, 
> and this ability would have been common knowledge. There is also 
that 
> wink that Dilys gives Harry when he enters St. Moungo's. My strong 
> impression is that this is a secret between DD and the past 
> headmasters of Hogwarts, known to very few beside them, but I can't 
> find definitive canon to either prove or disprove it.
> 
> If we go back to the idea that started this discussion: a portrait 
in 
> GH reporting to DD what happened in that fateful night, well, if I 
> was Voldy the first thing I would have done when entering the 
> Potters' house is blasting any portrait out of the wall. Unless it 
is 
> not common knowledge that they can run and bring DD.


Just an observation - perhaps all portraits at wizarding homes etc. 
are magically bound (like house elves) to not reveal anything they 
hear or see in the house.  This would prevent potentially embarassing 
information from leaking out.

At the same time, all previous headmaster/headmistress portraits are 
magically bound to help the current headmaster of Hogwarts under all 
circumstances.

As a result, in the second case, the portraits would be informing 
Dumbledore because they *must* - not sure if it's a *must* or 
*should* but I think they are atleast honour bound, as is indicated 
in OotP when Nigellus feigns being tired.

At the same time, this would allow portraits to move amongst 
themselves or nearby portraits - and their freedom of movement could 
further be limited by wards etc. placed on the house.

Just a thought,
-p